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Here's the latest tech news from the last 24 hours:

💸 Google paid $26 billion to be default search engine in 2021
🤖 Google to invest $2 billion in OpenAI competitor Anthropic
💳 AI company Poe to start paying chatbot creators
🌕 Jeff Bezos shows off new Moon lander design for NASA
👀 X introduces an ad-free ‘Premium+’ tier for $16 a month

💸 Google paid $26 billion to be default search engine in 2021LINK

Google spent $26.3 billion in 2021 to maintain its default search engine status and acquire traffic, with a significant portion likely going to Apple.

The company's search advertising generated a revenue of $146.4 billion in 2021, making the $26 billion spent on default status a considerable investment.

Google's payments for default search engine status have nearly quadrupled from 2014 to 2021, despite objections of making these figures public due to potential impact on future contract negotiations.

🤖 Google to invest $2 billion in OpenAI competitor AnthropicLINK

Google has massively increased its investment in Anthropic, the creators of Claude AI, with a commitment of $2 billion, significantly higher than its previous investment of $400 million.

The large investment is part of the ongoing AI competition among tech giants Google, Microsoft, and Amazon with both Amazon and Google investing heavily in Anthropic while Microsoft focuses on its partnership with OpenAI.

Beyond just investing, Google has launched its own AI chatbot, Google Bard, to compete with ChatGPT and has invested $20 million in the Digital Futures Project to support responsible AI development.

💳 AI company Poe to start paying chatbot creatorsLINK

Poe, the AI chatbot aggregator by Quora, has introduced a new monetization model allowing third-party creators to benefit from developing their own chatbots on its platform.

Creators can earn revenue both through subscriber referrals to Poe's $20-a-month app and soon via per-message fees for user interactions with their chatbots.

Poe's open API access allows anyone to add new natural language models to the platform, aiming for enhanced diversity and rapid innovation in the conversational AI space.

🌕 Jeff Bezos shows off new Moon lander design for NASALINK

Blue Origin has unveiled a life-sized model of its upcoming lunar cargo lander, Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1), a significant milestone for future Moon exploration.

The development is part of Blue Origin's $3.4 billion contract with NASA, aiming to return humans to the Moon and establish sustainable presence by the end of the decade.

The 14-foot-tall Blue Moon will be available in two configurations, capable of delivering up to 30 metric tons to the lunar surface, contributing to NASA's Artemis program missions.

👀 X introduces an ad-free ‘Premium+’ tier for $16 a monthLINK

X is introducing a new $16 per month Premium+ tier with no ads and added perks, as well as a cheaper $3 per month basic tier.

These new tiers come amid a declining advertising business and increasing reliance on subscription revenue, including a potential new program making new users pay to post and reply to tweets.

Elon Musk reportedly has ambitious plans for X, including challenging YouTube and LinkedIn and offering banking and financial services, with the platform possibly replacing traditional bank accounts by 2024.

Other news you might like

OpenAI CEO warns AI's progression toward superhuman persuasion is outpacing general intelligence, possibly resulting in unanticipated societal effects.LINK

This top tech co-founder wants young workers to work 70-hour weeks.LINK

Humane's Ai Pin, a compact wearable capable of phone calls, AI translations and more, may cost around $1000 with a necessary data subscription.LINK

Instagram's Adam Mosseri confirms development of a Threads API, allowing extended app ecosystem, despite concerns over potential publisher content overshadowing creator content.LINK

Two of California’s biggest robotaxi opponents join forces.LINK

IBM's new NorthPole chip, inspired by the brain's structure, potentially outperforms CPUs and GPUs in AI tasks by integrating computing and memory, thus increasing energy efficiency and eliminating data bottlenecks.LINK

Elon Musk has reportedly stopped using a Federal Aviation Administration program meant to hide the details of his private jet travels.LINK

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